So you’ve signed up to The Tough Mudder Challenge.  Good Luck!  We’ve put together this guide of What to wear for the Tough Mudder or similar sporting events. Our overriding guidance though is to train in what you will wear on the day, and choose what you will be happiest with.

Shoes

Starting at your toes shoes are perhaps the most important part of your outfit.  It is also the part of the outfit that provokes the most discussion.  The first thought is that a the Tough Mudder will ruin your shoes so wear something old, but equally many would argue that it is possible to clean shoes and that the last thing you want to do is skim on footwear for the big event.  Look for a decent pair of trail running shoes, trainers or the likes are no good as you will slip everywhere, whereas a pair of trail shoes will afford you some grip in the mud and won’t clog up.  That said ensure they are laced up tight, double or even triple knot them as the mud will do all it can to take your shoes from you!

Socks

You’re going to want socks to protect your feet from blisters, but within minutes of starting they will become wet so its best to look for short quick drying athletes socks.

Bottoms

For the bottom half of your body our advice is to just go for a simple pair of lightweight shorts.  As your going to be wet and muddy lightweight shorts will dry quickly and they aren’t going to drag you down.  If you went for a full length set of jogging bottoms they’re just going to soak up the mud and water and weigh you down.

Tops

A form-fitting baselayer is best.  Don’t be a mad man and try to run it shirtless - that could get painful if you take any of the electrified obstacles.  A simple base layer will be fast drying, help wick sweat from your body and unlike a T-Shirt won’t weigh you down when wet.

Other things you may want to wear

Those are the essentials, but depending on the weather you may want to consider some other items also.

Leggings

We are generally against wearing too much as anything extra could become wet and heavy, but if you are running at a particularly cold time of year you may want to wear a set of skin-tight quick drying leggings which will give you warmth and comfort.

Compression Sleeves

If you’ll be running up and down mountains you may find compression sleeves.  Compression sleeves will help your blood circulation and can give you better performance or at least save your calves!

A Hat

Theres no hard and fast rule around Hats, if you’ve trained in one and your comfortable with it then wear it, if not then don’t, just be prepared to lose it with all the crawling and scrambling!

A Camelbak

Again this comes down to training, if you have trained with a Camelbak and are going to be comfortable with it then bring it, equally if you can’t run several miles without hydration then you may want to consider a Camelbak too, most Tough Mudder events have drink stations, but you don’t know how long you’ll be running inbetween!

Gloves

Another personal choice, some would say don’t wear gloves, as they are only going to get wet, but on some of the obstacles you’ll be scrambling around so gloves will help provide some protection to your hands.

What else do you need?

A Drybag

Take a drybag to keep a change of clothes in, you don’t know where you’ll be able to leave your stuff so keep it protected from the elements.  Equally at the end of your Tough Mudder you can throw all your wet and muddy gear in so that they don’t mess up the car!

A change of clothes and shoes

It sounds obvious but the first thing you’ll want to do after the event is change your clothes, particularly your shoes.

Money

There’ll be stalls to buy food and drinks after the event or commemorative Tough Mudder gear!

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